Compacted bentonite, used as an engineering barrier for permanent containment of high-level radioactive waste, is susceptible to mineral evolution resulting in compromise of the expected barrier performance due to alkaline–thermal chemical interaction in the near-field. To elucidate the mineral-evolution mechanisms within bentonite and the transformation of the nuclide adsorption properties during that period, experimental evolution of bentonite was conducted in a NaOH solution with a pH of 14 at temperatures ranging from 60 to 120°C. The results showed that temperature significantly affects the stability of minerals in bentonite under alkali conditions. The dissolution rate of fine-grained cristobalite in bentonite exceeds that of smectite, with the phase-transition products of smectite being temperature-dependent. As the temperature rises, smectite experiences a three-stage transformation: initially, at 60°C, the lattice structure thins due to the collapse of the octahedral sheets; at 80°C, the lattice disintegrates and reorganizes into a loose framework akin to albite; and by 100°C, it further reorganizes into a denser framework resembling analcime. The adsorption properties of bentonite exhibit a peak inflection point at 80°C, where the dissolution of the smectite lattice eliminates interlayer pores and exposes numerous polar or negatively charged sites which results in a decrease in specific surface area and an increase in cation exchange capacity and adsorption capacity of Eu3+. This research provides insights into the intricate evolution of bentonite minerals and the associated changes in radionuclide adsorption capacity, contributing to a better understanding of the stability of bentonite barriers and the effective long-term containment of nuclear waste.

Few studies have evaluated the joint effect of trace elements on spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB). This study aimed to examine the relationships between the individual or mixed maternal serum concentrations of Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr and Mo during pregnancy, and risk of SPTB. Inductively coupled plasma MS was employed to determine maternal serum concentrations of the six trace elements in 192 cases with SPTB and 282 controls with full-term delivery. Multivariate logistic regression, weighted quantile sum regression (WQSR) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to evaluate the individual and joint effects of trace elements on SPTB. The median concentrations of Sr and Mo were significantly higher in controls than in SPTB group (P < 0·05). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, compared with the lowest quartile levels of individual trace elements, the third- and fourth-quartile Sr or Mo concentrations were significantly associated with reduced risk of SPTB with adjusted OR (aOR) of 0·432 (95 CI < 0·05). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, compared with the lowest quartile levels of individual trace elements, the third- and fourth-quartile Sr or Mo concentrations were significantly associated with reduced risk of SPTB with adjusted aOR of 0·432 (95 % CI 0·247, 0·756), 0·386 (95 % CI 0·213, 0·701), 0·512 (95 % CI 0·297, 0·883) and 0·559 (95 % CI 0·321, 0·972), respectively. WQSR revealed the inverse combined effect of the trace elements mixture on SPTB (aOR = 0·368, 95 % CI 0·228, 0·593). BKMR analysis confirmed the overall mixture of the trace elements was inversely associated with the risk of SPTB, and the independent effect of Sr and Mo was significant. Our findings suggest that the risk of SPTB decreased with concentrations of the six trace elements, with Sr and Mo being the major contributors.

Bentonite is considered as an ideal buffer/backfill material for preparing an engineering barrier for high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal. During initial sample preparation, the tendency of wet bentonite powder to gather into large agglomerates and the water to be spread unevenly in the traditional water content adjustment process decreases the homogeneity of compacted bentonite. The main purpose of this study was to solve this problem by applying a new wetting method, which mixes ice powder with bentonite powder (the ice-bentonite mixing method). This new method was used to adjust the water distribution in Gaomiaozi County, China (GMZ) bentonite powder and was compared to the traditional spray method. The screening method was used to separate macro-agglomerates (≥ 0.25 mm) from the water and bentonite mixture. The properties, the content of the various size agglomerates in loose mixtures, and the heterogeneity defects observed in compacted bentonite were compared. An index (P) was defined to quantitatively evaluate the water distribution in a loose bentonite/water mixture. Macro-agglomerates in loose mixtures produced heterogeneities in water content, density, and shrinkage. By using the ice-bentonite mixing method, fewer macro-agglomerates were formed and a homogeneous distribution of water was produced in the compacted bentonite. A homogeneous water distribution had the tendency to decrease the number of shrinkage cracks after the drying process and to maintain high mechanical strength in the compacted bentonite. Although the production of ice powder was laborious, the ice-bentonite mixing method has workability advantages: (i) a high mixing efficiency, (ii) a low mass loss rate, and (iii) a small deviation between measured water content and target water content. The low thawing efficiency of ice-bentonite mixtures can be solved by using a microwave-assisted thawing method. This research can improve the sample preparation method used to produce compacted buffer/backfill materials for HLW disposal.

The construction of organic-inorganic hybrid ferroelectric materials with larger, high-polarity guest molecules intercalated in kaolinite (K) faces difficulties in terms of synthesis and uncertainty of structure-property relationships. The purpose of the present study was to optimize the synthesis method and to determine the mechanism of ferroelectric behavior of kaolinite intercalated with p-aminobenzamide (PABA), with an eye to improving the design of intercalation methods and better utilization of clay-based ferroelectric materials. The K-PABA intercalation compound (chemical formula Al2Si2O5(OH)4∙(PABA)0.7) was synthesized in an autoclave and then characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results showed that PABA expanded the kaolinite interlayer from 7.2 Å to 14.5 Å, and the orientation of the PABA molecule was ~70° from the plane of the kaolinite layers. The amino group of the PABA molecule was close to the Si sheet. The presence of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between kaolinite and PABA and among PABA molecules caused macro polarization of K-PABA and dipole inversion under the external electric field, resulting in K-PABA ferroelectricity. Simulation calculations using the Cambridge Sequential Total Energy Package (CASTEP) and the ferroelectricity test revealed the optimized intercalation model and possible ferroelectric mechanism.

We report an experimental investigation of the heat transport and flow field in a rectangular Rayleigh–Bénard convection (RBC) cell with two immiscible fluids: silicone oil and glycerol. The global heat transport of the system is divided into three ranges corresponding to the different flow structures formed in the glycerol layer. In range I, the glycerol layer is dominated by conduction, and no plume is formed over the interface. In range II, cellular rolls are formed in the glycerol layer and the horizontal motion of rolls causes an oscillation of temperature in the interface. In range III, the cellular pattern is time-independent, and the interface forms a group of wavelets with wave numbers consistent with the mode of the cellular pattern. In lower-thin glycerol, the Nusselt (Nu) grows from conduction to convection through an oscillating subcritical bifurcation at critical Rayleigh number $Ra_c$. The value of $Ra_c$ in the present work is smaller than the theoretical prediction of both-rigid boundaries and greater than the prediction of one-rigid and one-free boundaries. In the upper-thick silicone oil layer, $Nu$ increases with increasing $Ra$, but it is smaller than that of traditional RBC. For the silicone oil layer in two-layer RBC, the hot plumes emitting over the liquid–liquid interface showed different shape and different velocity from cold plumes emitting from the top rigid plate. This implies that the velocity boundary condition strongly influences the flow structure in turbulent convection.

The objective of this study was to understand and measure epigenetic changes associated with the occurrence of CHDs by utilizing the discordant monozygotic twin model. A unique set of monozygotic twins discordant for double-outlet right ventricles (DORVs) was used for this multiomics study. The cardiac and muscle tissue samples from the twins were subjected to whole genome sequencing, whole genome bisulfite sequencing, RNA-sequencing and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Sporadic DORV cases and control fetuses were used for validation. Global hypomethylation status was observed in heart tissue samples from the affected twins. Among 36,228 differentially methylated regions (DMRs), 1097 DMRs involving 1039 genes were located in promoter regions. A total of 419 genes, and lncRNA–mRNA pairs involved 30 genes, and 62 proteins were significantly differentially expressed. Multiple omics integrative analysis revealed that five genes, including BGN, COL1A1, COL3A1, FBLN5, and FLAN, and three pathways, including ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion and TGF-β signaling pathway, exhibited differences at all three levels. This study demonstrates a multiomics profile of discordant twins and explores the possible mechanism of DORV development. Global hypomethylation might be associated with the risk of CHDs. Specific genes and specific pathways, particularly those involving ECM–receptor interaction, focal adhesion and TGF–β signaling, might be involved in the occurrence of CHDs.

Over the past decade, transdiagnostic indicators in relation to neurobiological processes have provided extensive insight into youth’s risk for psychopathology. During development, exposure to childhood trauma and dysregulation (i.e., so-called AAA symptomology: anxiety, aggression, and attention problems) puts individuals at a disproportionate risk for developing psychopathology and altered network-level neural functioning. Evidence for the latter has emerged from resting-state fMRI studies linking mental health symptoms and aberrations in functional networks (e.g., cognitive control (CCN), default mode networks (DMN)) in youth, although few of these investigations have used longitudinal designs. Herein, we leveraged a three-year longitudinal study to identify whether traumatic exposures and concomitant dysregulation trigger changes in the developmental trajectories of resting-state functional networks involved in cognitive control (N = 190; 91 females; time 1 Mage = 11.81). Findings from latent growth curve analyses revealed that greater trauma exposure predicted increasing connectivity between the CCN and DMN across time. Greater levels of dysregulation predicted reductions in within-network connectivity in the CCN. These findings presented in typically developing youth corroborate connectivity patterns reported in clinical populations, suggesting there is predictive utility in using transdiagnostic indicators to forecast alterations in resting-state networks implicated in psychopathology.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Patient adherence with antidepressant therapy is a critical aspect of clinical management. Drug molecules often interact with other off-target proteins resulting in adverse events. We utilized an interactome model for predicting the likelihood of adverse drug reactions in order to accurately prescribe antidepressant medications to a patient. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We utilized an interactome model to study physical interactions between proteins and biological functions disrupted by major depression to understand how changes in genes alter patient-specific drug efficacy and cause adverse drug-reactions. To study how drugs and diseases propagate through the proteins and biological functions, we harnessed diffusion profiles to represent nodes in the graphical model and used a biased random walks model to illustrate how signals propagate in a heterogeneous biological network. The edge weights were defined for the drug, disease, protein, and biological function node types. The interactions studied included drug-protein, disease-protein, protein-protein, protein-biological function, biological function-biological function. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Based on previous studies, we anticipate that the genetic variants modulating antidepressant response include 5-HTT, STin2, HTR1A, HTR2A, TPH1 and BDNF. Additionally, genetic variants such as SLC6A4 as well as the HPA pathway may play an important role in antidepressant therapeutic response. With regards to medication drug response, the genes, SLC6A4 and HTR2A, have been known for encoding proteins that affect the synaptic cleft of serotonergic neurons. Also, the gene SLC6A4 has been shown to encode for the serotonin reuptake transporter, which is the main pharmacological target of SSRIs. In female patients with major depression, the polymorphism associated with MAOA gene may be involved in the pharmacological response. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The key to successful depression treatment is early adherence but nearly 60% of patients discontinue antidepressants within three months. By developing a strong understanding of the genes that alter treatment efficacy, we can provide patients with more awareness regarding the most effective treatment plan to minimize adverse events.

The application scopes of two different reductive perturbation methods to derive the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation and coupled KdV (CKdV) equation in two-temperature-ion dusty plasma are given by using the particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical method in the present paper. It suggests that the reductive perturbation method (RPM) is valid if the amplitude of the CKdV solitary wave is small enough. However, for the KdV solitary wave, RPM is valid not only if the amplitude of the KdV solitary wave is small enough, but also if the nonlinear coefficient of the KdV equation is not tending to zero.

The sedimentation of two spherical solid objects in a viscous fluid has been extensively investigated and well understood. However, a pair of flat disks (in three dimensions) settling in the fluid shows more complex hydrodynamic behaviour. The present work aims to improve the understanding of this phenomenon by performing direct numerical simulation and physical experiments. The present results show that the sedimentation processes are significantly influenced by disk shape, characterized by a dimensionless moment of inertia I*, and Reynolds number Re of the leading disk. For the flatter disks with smaller I*, steady falling with enduring contact transits to periodic swinging with intermittent contacts as Re increases. The disks with larger I* tend to fall in a drafting-kissing-tumbling mode at low Re and to remain separated at high Re. Based on I* and Re, a phase diagram is created to classify the two-disk falling into ten distinctive patterns. The planar motion or three-dimensional motion of the disks is determined primarily by Re. Turbulent disturbance flows at a high Re contribute to the chaotic three-dimensional rotation of the disks. The chance for the two disks to contact is increased when I* and Re are reduced.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/bae1f4cb-c5c1-4dfd-85e2-22bfc929e4a0

Environmental hypoxia exposure causes fertility problems in human and animals. Compelling evidence suggests that chronic hypoxia impairs spermatogenesis and reduces sperm motility. However, it is unclear whether paternal hypoxic exposure affects fertilization and early embryo development. In the present study, we exposed male mice to high altitude (3200 m above sea level) for 7 or 60 days to evaluate the effects of hypoxia on sperm quality, zygotic DNA methylation and blastocyst formation. Compared with age-matched controls, hypoxia-treated males exhibited reduced fertility after mating with normoxic females as a result of defects in sperm motility and function. Results of in vitro fertilization (IVF) experiments revealed that 60 days’ exposure significantly reduced cleavage and blastocyst rates by 30% and 70%, respectively. Immunohistochemical staining of pronuclear formation indicated that the pronuclear formation process was disturbed and expression of imprinted genes was reduced in early embryos after paternal hypoxia. Overall, the findings of this study suggested that exposing male mice to hypoxia impaired sperm function and affected key events during early embryo development in mammals.

The objective of this study was to analyze differences in birth weight and overweight/obesity in a Shanghai twin cohort. We also wanted to study their association and explore possible risk factors for the discordance of overweight/obesity within twins. This was an internal case–control study designed for twins. The 2012 Shanghai Twin Registration System baseline survey data of a total of 3417 twin pairs were statistically analyzed using SPSS22 software. Results show that the body mass index (BMI) of the Shanghai twin population increased with age. Twins with a high birth weight had a higher BMI and a higher rate of overweight and obesity; 0- to 6-year-old twins, male twins and dizygotic (DZ) twins had higher rates of overweight/obesity than other groups. The greater the discordant birth weight rate of twins, the more obvious the difference in BMI (p < .05). There was a significant difference in overweight/obesity between twins with a relative difference of birth weight ≥15% in DZ twins (p < .05). DZ twins, male twins and 0- to 6-year-old twins were more likely to be discordant in overweight/obese than others. The discordant birth weight within twins was not a risk factor for discordant overweight/obesity. However, attention should be paid to childhood obesity, and appropriate interventions should be made at the appropriate time. Genetics may play an important role in the occurrence and development of overweight/obesity. In conclusion, discordant growth and development in the uterus early in life may not lead to discordant weight development in the future.